Calling device for an automatic telephone system



W. W. OWEN.

CALLING DEVICE FOR AN AUTOMATIC TELEPHONE SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 26, 1919.

1,435,253. Patented. Nov. 14, 1922.

L LL LLLLL EAST - Izwe mm"- WILLIAM WALTER OWEN, 01? OAK PARK, ILLINOIS,- ASSIGNOR TO AUTOMATIC ELEC- TRIO COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

CALLING DEVICE FOR AN AUTOMATIC TELEPHONE SYBT.

Application flledmay 26,

To all whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that I, WILLIAM WALTER OWEN, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Oak Park, in the county of Cook and State of Illlnois, have invented certain Improved Calling Devices for an Automatic Telephone System, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates in eneral to an improved system for simpli ying the control of the switches in an automatic system and relates more specifically to an improved calling device which is so arranged and designated as to simplify the directory numbers in a large exchange and to make it mucheasier to remember the called number.

It will be observed that a feature of importance in the system I specifically herein disclose lies in the fact that I'employ a rotary disk rotatable to different distances for sending out sets of impulses of different numbers and that I employ a series of numbers for indicating the different operations of the disk, each number indicating the number of impulses the particular operation produces in the system, and that in addition to these numbers for these operations I also employ a series of descriptive words or names for indicatin the different operations of the disk which designate exchanges, so that in preparing the system of numbers for the subscriber I can substitute a name for a digit wherever it is desirable in order that the subscribers number shall be made as easy as possible to memorize. In other words, the association with each of the numbered impulsesending operations of the exchange-designating name enables each subscribers numher to be made up of digits and a name or names, the name or names beingarranged either at the front of the numbers or in the middle thereof or at the end thereof, as may be considered desirable. Many schemes have been tried out and many applications have been filed in the Patent'Ofiice all showing more or less complicated schemes to in crease "the capacity of the switches or showing complicated calling devices, which must be operated in some peculiar manner. It is well known that in a large automatic tele phone system the subscriber is required to remember sometimes as many as eight or more digits in one number, That is, in a 100,000 line exchange five digits would be 1919. Serial N0. 299,980.

necessary, and when, as is often the case, there are numerous rivate branch exchanges, the number of digits often increases to as many as eight figures, which it will be seen is a very great disadvantage and one to which the subscriber often objects.

Among the schemes which have been rovided to overcome this difiiculty are: ials whlch have a plurality of series of finger holes some bearing letters and others figures, together with the addition of wiper selecting auxiliary switches, for picking out one of a lurality of sets of wipersin a single switc also the large dial with the hyphen system has been tried out in which case the number would appear in the directory as 39-4=652, etc., in which case a much larger switch is required. It will be seen that all of these schemes are more or less intricate and require changes in the construction of the standard Strowger type of automatic switch which has been found to be the most eflicient, but in no case .have words and digits been combined as the index of a given line for automatic calling purposes.

My improved method of and means for overcoming this difliculty consists in providing the standard type of calling device as shown in Fig. 1 (only the finger holed disk and the plate of the device being shown) with an inner circle of names such as shown, one name for each of the ten numbered finger holes. These names of course are optional and will in practice be picked to fit the existing offices and parts of the city in which the exchanges are to be installed. One thing which is desirable in selecting these names for the dial is to select a group of names which may be combined in two or erhaps three name combinations such as orth-Park-Main or Main- North or South-Park, etc. It will be seen that a great number of names can be found which can be so used.

The object of this means for designation is as follows: It is well known that in the manual systems now in use in larger cities it has become common practice to use such called numbers as Central 942, Oak Park 366, etc., the name or name combinations indicating to the operator the particular exchange in which the called number is located. Now it is my intention to apply this same method to the automatic system so that the subscribers may use the same type is easier to remember than 71335. Now in a,

of numbers to which they are accustomed and may even at times retain them same called numbers when the system is chan ed over from manual to automatic.- In 1g. 2 T have shown a diagrammatic trunking diagram of a portion of an automatic system of 100,000 lines and I will explain the application of this improved numbering system in connection with this diagram, although it will be readily seen that this type of calling device and numbering scheme may be easily applied to any size exchangeor to any existing exchange in which numbers only are now used.

It will be seen that if the subscriber finds a number in his directory listed as Main- North 3, 5hemay then first operate his calling device by inserting his finger in the d al hole opposite the name Main then he Wlll operate again by inserting a finger n the hole opposite the name North and then the two numbered holes 3 and 5 in proper se uence. In this manner he has in; reality ca ed the number 7135 or if the number appears as Main-North-East-35 it will be understood that to the subscriber this number lar er exchange where the existing switches cal for six or seven digits it will be seen that the number Oak Park 3549, is 'much easier to remember than 563549 which is actually the number that the subscriber calls when using the dial to call Oak Park 3549. This number may, of course, be still further reduced by using the combination Oak Park- East 549. The subscriber having this number would of course, be located if possible in the South exchan e of the territory commonly called Oak ark so that this number would be easily remembered by one who knows that this party lives-or has his business in that locality.

Fig. 1 shows a calling device of the type used in my improved system. Fig. 2 shows a. trunking diagram by means of which I will illustrate thev functions performed by the calling device of Fig. 1.

Referr'in to the trunking diagram shown on Fig. 2, fhave shown a calling subscriber A having access in the usual manner through a line switch C, which may be of any well known type, to a plurality of selector switches D of the Strowger type. This selector D has its levels so arranged, as is common practice, that the first level for instance leads to a number of second selectors E which have access to third selectors F which in turn have access to connectors H all in the first 10,000 group of lines; also the second level of the selectors D lead to second selectors E- which have access to the subscribers of the second 10,000 group of lines, while the third level of the selectors D leads to selectors which have access to subscribers in the third 10,000 group memes throu h third selectors ll and connectors H. It wil of course be understood that the system is arranged in decimal order and that although Thave shown only three levels of trunks for each switch in the system, there will of course be ten levels and the drawing is therefore arranged on the proportion of 3 to 10.

Now a will be seen that to call one of the subscribers L who is located in the first hundred of the third 1,000 of the first 10,000, a subscriber mustoperate his calling device to step a switch D to its first level to automatically select an idle one of the second selectors E. The selector E is then operated by three'impulses from the dial to pick out the third level of trunks leading to the third selectors F 2. The selector F must then be operated to its first level and an idle conneotor H in this level is selected. V After the switch H is seized the subscriber may call any number from 11 to 00 to select any line in this particular hundred. Thus the called number of one of these subscribers would in the exis'tm systems ,be' 13155 or a similar number.

n the same manner one of the subscribers in the group R will have a call 3 number of say 23111 or 23155, the last two numbers determining the particular line in that hundred. Now, suppose the subscribers in the L group are located in the northeast part of the city, then the dial will be designated as shown with the name North opposite the number one dial hole and with the name East opposite the number 3 dial hole. Now it may be seen that a subscriber in the 1L group will appear inthe directory Also the subscribers in any of the thou- I sands consistin of groups R, S and T may use the prefix outh East which is the same as 23. In this way it will be seen that the directory may be made up of certain distinctive called numbers a few examples of which are Oak Park 155, which is 56155, Oak Park-North 155, which is 561155, North-Park 155, which is 16155, East Branch 155, which is 38155, etc., and that this combination is very flexible and will greatly simplify the numbering system now in use by the use of a system which is already well known to the mind of a sub-- scriber in manual systems, and 'also the fact will be obvious that this numbering scheme may be applied to any existing sys tem of standard type without in any way changing the central oflice equipment and that this scheme consists of using a called number in which certain names are substituted for the numbers and form a very easily remembered designation which may be suggestive of the location of the called line.

Having fully described the features and aspects of my invention, what I consider to be new and desire to have protected by Letters Patent will be pointed out in the appended claims.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. In a telephone system, major groups of subscribers lines, minor groups of subscriberslines into which one of the major groups is divided, a first switch for electing a ma or group, a second switch for electing a minor group, each major group and each minor group having a name, a calling device, a rotatable dial therefor, a series of finger holes in said dial, said finger holes marked with said names, means for controlling the first switch by dialing the name of the major group, means for controllin the second switch by dialing the name 0% the minor group, and other switches controlled by said calllng device to complete a connection.

2. In an automatic telephone system comprising automatic switching mechanism for interconnecting calling and called lines, a plurality of exchanges each having a distinctive name adapted for combination with the other names to form intelligible compound names, a calling device for operating the automatic switches, and a rotatable dial for said device having a series of finger holes marked in accordance with thefsaid distinctive names.

3. In an automatic telephone system comprising automatic switching mechanism for interconnecting calling and called lines, a plurality of exchanges, each designated by a distinctive name, a calling device for operating the automatic switches,a rotatable dial for said calling device having a series of finger holes marked in accordance with the ten digits, certain of the said holes being also marked in accordance with the names of said exchanges, word designations for the remaining finger holes which are adapted to form logical combinations with the names of said exchanges, and a plurality of other exchanges designated b said combinations.

4. In an automatic te ephone system comprising automatic switching mechanism for interconnecting calling and called lines, a plurality of exchanges, a distinctive name, a calling device for opeach designated by erating t-he automatic switches, a rotatable dial for said calling device having a series of finger holes marked in accordance with the ten digits, certain of the said holes being also marked in accordance with the names'of said exchanges, word designations for the remaining finger holes which are adapted to be combined with the said exchange names to form'intelligible compound names, and a plurality of othervexchanges designated by said compound names.

5. In an automatic telephone system comprising automatic switching mechanism for interconnecting calling and called lines, a plurality of main exchanges, each designated by a distinctive name, a calling device for operating the automatic switches, a rotatable dial for said calling device having a series of finger holes marked in accordance with the ten digits, certain of said finger holes being also marked in accordance with the names of said main exchanges, word designations for the remaining finger holes which are adapted for combination with the names of said main exchanges to form compound names suitable for branch exchanges, and a plurality of branch exchanges designated by the compound names so formed.

6. The method of dialling in a mechanical switching system in which subscribers are designated by combination of oflice names and numbers, which consists in applying to each office a name which is descriptive of the geographical location of the 0ffice, in dialling the oflice name, and then successively dialing the digits of the number of the subscribers designation.

7. The method of directively operating switches to establish a connection in a mechanical switching system in which subscribers are designated by combination of oflice names and numbers, and in which the switches are operated in response to the transmission of varied groups of impulses, each group of impulses representing either a name or a digit, which consists in applying names to the oflices which are descriptive of the geographical location of the subscribers in that ofli'ce, in transmitting a succession of groups of impulses corresponding to a plurality of said oflice names, and then transmitting successive groups of impulses corresponding to the digits of the number of the subscribers designation.

Signed at Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, this 23rd day of May, 1919. 

